A threaded discussion forum has been used in fully online or blended courses at institutions of higher education in the United States. However, how advanced adult ESL learners interact with peers collaboratively to complete assigned tasks is still uninvestigated. The aim of this study was to investigate social interaction emerging in a threaded discussion forum, particularly when adult ESL learners were assigned to argue about controversial issues. This study also investigated learners' word appropriation strategies when encountering unknown words during task engagement. Grounded in sociocultural theory, the study was conducted to investigate how adult ESL learners could benefit from postings by more capable peers and use text-based communication as thinking devices (Harasim, 1990; Lotman, 1988; 1990; vanLier, 2000; Warschauer, 1997; Wells, 2000) to complete the assigned tasks. The investigation regarding social interaction focused on three aspects: 1) the roles of expert and novice emerging during task engagement; 2) the functions of the postings composed to sustain arguments; and 3) multiple voices emerging in arguments for meaning construction. Lotman's (1988) notion of functional dualism of texts, Wertsch's (1998; 2000) notion of interaction in social space, and Bakhtin's (1979) notion of awareness of otherness were employed to analyze how multiple voices in texts illustrated the process of how participants borrowed, adopted, and transformed other voices into voices of their own. The participants in the study were assigned to read two controversial articles about assisted suicide and the mandatory school uniform policy and then were divided into two groups to argue for or against the assigned topics. They were instructed to fill in a pre- and a post-task vocabulary knowledge scale to indicate their vocabulary knowledge from the assigned readings. After a preliminary analysis of the pre- and post-task vocabulary knowledge scale as well as posted messages, the researcher conducted post-task interviews with individual participants to clarify questions arising during the preliminary analysis. Results of the study suggested that during task engagement the roles of expert and novice fluctuated, depending upon different circumstances. Individual participants were able to 1) initiate threads to start arguments; 2) provide arguments to transform the developing discussion into a new direction; and 3) embed words identified as unknown in postings to provide contextual assistance for the novice to infer word meanings and compose responses. The analysis of the functions of the postings revealed that they served as dual functions for knowledge transmission as well as knowledge co-construction. Questions were embedded in postings for various purposes, especially for challenging rather than expecting answers, and uptake played a crucial role in engendering extended argument. Multiple voices in the threaded discussion allowed the participants opportunities to expand arguments as well as meaning construction regarding unknown words encountered during task engagement. With regard to word appropriation strategies to maintain the flow of interaction, the participants flexibly employed various strategies to infer word meanings before they were able to compose responses. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2005. / June 17, 2005. / Advanced Adult ESL Learners, Multiple Voices, Threaded Discussion Forum, Vocabulary Appropriaton, Social Interaction / Includes bibliographical references. / Frank B. Brooks, Professor Directing Dissertation; Vanessa Dennen, Outside Committee Member; Elizabeth Platt, Committee Member; Frederick L. Jenks, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_176237 |
| Contributors | Tai, Su-Lin (authoraut), Brooks, Frank B. (professor directing dissertation), Dennen, Vanessa (outside committee member), Platt, Elizabeth (committee member), Jenks, Frederick L. (committee member), Department of Middle and Secondary Education (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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